Thomas Sowell Blames Housing Bust on Frank, Bush, Greenspan July 20, 2009

Favorite:

Complete video at: http://fora.tv/2009/06/29/Thomas_Sowell_The_Housing_Boom_and_Bust

Thomas Sowell, senior Hoover fellow and author of The Housing Boom and Bust, cites Congressman Barney Frank, former President George W. Bush, and Alan Greenspan as major players in the housing crisis. Sowell calls Congressman Frank the worst actor of the three.

-----

Thomas Sowell analyzes the recent housing boom and bust, beginning with the underlying economic causes that artificially inflated housing costs in certain markets. He points the finger directly at political decisions in Washington -- particularly involving Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac -- that enabled and promoted the financing of an unsustainable housing bubble in which the collapse of prices in a few inflated markets rapidly evolved into a national crisis.

Sowell challenges the accepted wisdom of modeling a recovery based on the New Deal, which he asserts did little to help -- and perhaps even extended -- The Great Depression. Finally, he disputes the value of the recent stimulus package and argues against Obama's health-care and energy initiatives. - Hoover Institution

Thomas Sowell is an American economist, political writer, and commentator. He is currently a senior fellow of the Hoover Institution at Stanford University. In 1990, he won the Francis Boyer Award, presented by the American Enterprise Institute. In 2002 he was awarded the National Humanities Medal for prolific scholarship melding history, economics, and political science.

Peter M. Robinson is a research fellow at the Hoover Institution, where he writes about business and politics, edits Hoover's quarterly journal, the Hoover Digest, and hosts Hoover's television program, Uncommon Knowledge.